Chronicling Robots Since 2011
Shortly after SoftBank acquired his company last October, Marc Raibert of Boston Dynamics confessed, “I happen to believe that robotics will be bigger than the Internet.” Many sociologists regard the Internet as the single biggest societal invention since the dawn of the printing press in 1440. To fully understand Raibert’s point of view, one needs to … Read more
It is unclear if Masayoshi Son, Chairman of Softbank, was one of the 17 million YouTube viewers of Boston Dynamic’s Big Dog before acquiring the company for an undisclosed amount this past Thursday. What is clear is the acquisition of Boston Dynamics by Softbank is a big deal. Softbank’s humanoid robot Pepper is trading up her … Read more
Last Saturday, everyone waited with bated breadth to see if American Pharoah would win the Triple Crown. At the same time, under the California sun, 23 teams competed in the ultimate robotic contest – the DARPA’s Robotic Challenge (DRC). It should come as no surprise that a South Korean team won the $2 million grand prize, as South Korea … Read more
Last week, I ventured to wonder who would win in a battle of the bots – NASA’s Valkyrie or Boston Dynamics’s ATLAS. I think Google just weighed in with the answer. Google’s acquisition of BD is probably the biggest deal to hit the Robot Industry since Amazon’s purchase of Kiva systems last March. Astute observers … Read more